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I know I don't post much in the thread any more but that's usually because other people end up saying what I want to say in far more detail.RickVoid posted:KRUUUUUPAAAAAA But, This, all of it. I absolutely loving adore the thing Kenji and Saanvi have going. #TeamSaanvi, I love our latina ork but I need more Saanji in my life
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Sep 23, 2018 23:45
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Definitely think Sasha is the best combination of ability to help and closeness. If possible have Fuzzy there too. She can keep Sasha grounded and why not save explaining all this Dog stuff separately.
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Sep 24, 2018 17:26
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Kenji and Fuzzy – Saturday, July 27th, 2075 – Late afternoon – Blake Island “Hey, Kenji, we’re here,” said a familiar voice. “Nuuuuhhh…” groaned Kenji. “Hey, come on, it’s time to go,” continued the voice. Kenji rolled over in his seat and tried to snuggle into his jacket. A few seconds passed in relative peace before an unfamiliar ringing brought him to wakefulness with a start. He came up in a fighting crouch before he noticed Fuzzy standing several feet away in her sweaty, grey workout clothes, holding up her commlink. He relaxed and she turned it off. “Why’d you do that?” he complained, groggily. “Because you weren’t waking up,” explained Fuzzy. It went unsaid between the two that this wasn’t strange. Neither Kenji nor Fuzzy was the sort of person a smart person would attempt to shake awake. Kenji grunted in response. His distance from the engine brought it from loud to a soothing hum and the slight rocking while moving had been gentle. He’d nodded off without realizing it. The Dog shaman who’d grabbed a cat nap stood up and stretched. “You see Joyce around here?” asked Kenji. “That red-headed guy?” asked Fuzzy, “Yeah, he asked me if I wanted to walk home with you since you weren’t getting up. I said yeah.” Joyce had been a man of his word. He’d watched Kenji until he got home. Now that he was back on the island and had probably snored his way through some attempts to wake him he’d made the hand-off to Fuzzy. While he pondered that, he suddenly became aware of Fuzzy’s smell. He pulled a face. “Wow, work out much?” he asked. “Yep,” she agreed. He walked ahead of her. If there had been anyone else on the boat home on a Saturday night, they’d already left. Fuzzy followed and so did her smell. “No time for a shower, huh?” he asked, pointedly. Their footsteps thudded against the dock as they departed the boat and walked towards their cabins. “That would have taken time away from training,” she said, defensively, “I want to be ready as soon as possible for the job.” He was upwind of her at least so once he got off the dock and onto the path he turned around and walked backwards. “Didn’t you take any breaks?” he asked, “Showers can be a kind of break you know.” Fuzzy’s pale skin flushed pink and she looked away. “I’ll get a shower when I get home, okay?” she grumped. “Okay, just…” he started, “Maybe think about grabbing one before you leave next time. People will judge you for that.” Normally Kenji wouldn’t talk to someone like this, but even a year later Fuzzy occasionally stumbled through what it meant to be civilized. Kenji had lived the majority of his life smelling like the aftermath of a trash fire due to living in the ACHE and he’d remembered being judged for it the few times he’d left on business. All of that combined with his friendship with her meant that he could bring up the awkward subject. It struck him as strange though. She should know about basic hygiene by now and she seemed aware from the way she blushed. He decided to take the pain and fell back to walk next to her, smell and all. “Just looking out for you,” he soothed. She grunted noncommittally and he tried to inhale in short breaths. It didn’t do much good. As he took a closer look at her, he noticed just how nervous and miserable she looked which between him just waking up and then walking ahead of her he hadn’t noticed until now. That bothered him. “Something wrong?” he asked. Fuzzy stopped and looked down at her feet which made Kenji stop as well. “What?” he asked. Fuzzy pursed her lips, her brow furrowed and she sighed miserably. She shoved her hands into her pockets while she hunched over. “Can I ask you something?” she asked, nervously. “Sure, yeah,” said Kenji, quietly, “Anything.” Fuzzy mumbled something unintelligible. “Didn’t quite catch that,” said Kenji. “Is looking at naked people cheating?” she whispered. It was such a sudden shift in topic that it caught Kenji off guard. Fuzzy looked up at him with those blue eyes of hers and he saw fear in them, which was new. He’d seen dejection and doubt, but never fear. So despite the strangeness of the question, he took it seriously. “Is looking at naked people cheating?” he repeated. She winced and looked further away from him. Her cheeks burned with shame and she nodded slightly. “Where did you see naked people?” he asked. Then he realized where. He should have figured it out sooner, but he’d never actually been to a gym before. He did some basic workouts in the mornings to keep fit, but the gym class and physical adept class didn’t interest him. However, he had taken chemical showers after each and every delve into the ACHE’s sub-basement. “In the gym showers,” he said, “Let me guess, that’s why you didn’t get a shower.” She shrugged noncommittally. “I guess,” she mumbled. “Didn’t you use the showers in Coach Bolt’s class last semester?” he asked. She shook her head and looked even more uncomfortable. “It ends right before lunch so I just went home to shower,” she explained, “My cabin isn’t far so I run over, change into my gym clothes and run back.” “What about…” he began. Kenji knew about where she came from. Her home, nicknamed The Club because it was based out of an abandoned golf course country club, was full of kids with only a few adults to supervise. However he decided he really didn’t want to know about their bathing practices. All that mattered was that this bothered Fuzzy. “Okay, so you wanted to get a shower, saw someone naked and think that’s cheating?” he asked, incredulously. “She was kind of in her underwear,” Fuzzy admitted, anxiously. “Kind of?” he asked. Fuzzy hesitated and then heaved out a miserable sigh. “There wasn’t much of it,” she admitted, meekly, “It was like she was wearing a slingshot and a bra.” It was to Kenji’s credit that he didn’t burst out laughing at his friend, though it was difficult. He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled his most reassuring smile. “Fuzzy, people change and get clean in gyms,” he soothed, “It’s fine. It’s not cheating to look.” She looked up at him, her eyes filled with desperate hope. “Really?” she asked, hopefully. “It’s fine,” he said, “I used to use the showers all of the time for a job I had for a while. Just don’t hang around and stare like it’s a show and you should be okay." As fuzzy sighed with relief, Kenji thought about that job. It had been delving and the showers had been chemical. He rationalized that it was sort of the same thing. "You are adorable sometimes, you know that?" he said, with a grin. The relief that washed over her quickly turned to an unimpressed, flat stare. “I am not adorable,” she huffed, angrily. “Okay, you’re not adorable,” said Kenji. Fuzzy’s anger disappeared and she nodded, as if the topic was settled. A sly smile sliced across Kenji’s face. “No, you’re not adorable at all. You’re far past that. What you are is a cinnamon bun with rum raisins on top. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to tell Sasha about this,” he teased, “She’ll laugh.” Fuzzy suddenly grabbed him around the waist and hugged him as Kenji began to walk away. The full force of her smell hit him and he tried not to gag as she rubbed the sweat of full day’s workout all over his new clothes. “Noooo!” exclaimed Fuzzy, “You better not!” If it was anyone else, Fuzzy would probably be menacing them by now. However, they were friends and so Kenji got clung to. He tried to push her away but his hand slid off her as she continued the clinch that she’d just learned from her boxing instructor, so they awkwardly danced together on a dirt trail while he got covered in sweat. He realized something though. Fuzzy was pack, but teasing her didn’t make Dog angry. In fact, Dog didn’t even seem to notice. It was just him and Fuzzy messing around now. “All right, all right,” shouted Kenji, “Fine!” She looked up at him seriously, now her old self once again. She didn’t let go though. “You better not tell,” she grumped. “I ought to,” he complained, “Now I need a shower.” She let go and quirked a smile at him. “That’s what you get for teasing me,” she said. Kenji ineffectually tried to brush down his clothes. “Yeah, yeah,” he muttered. They began to walk together again towards the sophomore row of the cabins. “So what are your plans for tonight?” he asked Fuzzy, “Got a hot date?” “Nah,” said Fuzzy, “I didn’t know how tired I’d be so we didn’t plan anything. We’ll probably just stay in and watch a movie or something.” Kenji thought about his day and how it had been filled with ups and downs. If there was one person that would understand feelings it would probably be Sasha. Dog had sent him a vision and from what Joyce said, that had been a big deal, but he didn’t really want to talk to Joyce or Julian about something so personal. Especially since it had not only been personal for himself, but intensely personal for Saanvi as well. “Not that I want to be a third wheel, but do you mind if I come over for a bit? I had a really rough day and Sasha is good with feelings and stuff,” said Kenji. “Third wheel?” asked Fuzzy. “Someone who hangs around and ruins dates,” explained Kenji. “Oh,” said Fuzzy, “No, you'll be a fourth wheel if anything. Puppy is the third wheel for date nights lately. In fact I’ll be a while. I need to feed Fluffy his treats and spend some time with him. As it turns out, owls need a lot of care. Then I have to shower and change. It’ll be at least an hour. You going to be okay?” “I think so, I just need someone to talk to who gets feelings and stuff. In the meantime I need a shower for some reason,” said Kenji, dryly, “Can’t imagine why.” Fuzzy smiled smugly at Kenji and they both laughed. They made their goodbyes while they headed towards their respective cabins. Kenji entered his and pulled a small case out of his jacket pocket. He opened it and saw all five ampoules of Long Haul inside. They all looked in order. Fuzzy had jammed the small case into his ribs when she hugged him and he thought they might have been damaged. “All in order,” he sighed, “Wait, what?” He furrowed his brow as he pulled out something else. It was wrapped in heavy plastic so he’d thought it had just been packaging, but no. When he pulled it out he found a disposable hypodermic needle with the cap on the end. “Wait, I thought this stuff was over the counter,” he said to himself, his tone confused, “I mean I paid the extra for pharmaceutical grade but…” He slowly put it back in its case and closed the lid. Kenji actually didn’t have much experience with drugs. He drank sometimes, but passed on just about everything else. Clever ran a relatively clean block. Drugs flowed off the block, not onto it with the only exception being his moms’ apartment. Junkies got tossed off the floor by Clever’s Boys, sometimes literally so. The only exception was moms and that was because she was Clever’s family and Kenji had been a good earner. He did his best not to look at the case of Long Haul. He’d thought that it had maybe been a pill or something he could drink. The needle of a tattoo gun was differently shaped and so he’d been able to deal with that. A tattoo gun made art, it didn’t get someone high, or at least not with anything more than endorphins. Kenji walked into his bathroom and grabbed the bottle of mouthwash. Like last year, he’d emptied it out, filled it with vodka and some blue dye. This year he’d been a little bolder and had actually brought his mason jar of magic baiju to school. It was the Chinese liquor that Min Yun gave him that made people relive good memories that involved water as it had a water spirit inside. It had been a chore to sneak it in, but he didn’t have anywhere that he could store it. After all, the ACHE and spirits don’t mix, or at least not the magical kind. He unscrewed the white, plastic cap, used it as an impromptu shot glass and downed a shot of vodka. It was supposed to be sipping vodka, but he tossed it back like it was rotgut out of a plastic bottle. Again he looked at the case, scowled and then poured himself another, smaller shot. This one he sipped. It was smooth for vodka, but he was definitely not in a mood to appreciate it. Used needles had been a constant in moms’ apartment as she was a bliss user. Bliss was a heroin based tranquilizer which also helped boost the mood of anyone who used it. It was the premier chemical escape for junkies in the ACHE. Edward’s room had been clean, but that had been it. When he lived in the ACHE, the longer he’d been awake, the more that he’d find needles. He’d guessed at the time that Edward had been the one to clean them up along with the rest of the apartment. This had been confirmed when he came back home after being away at school. The apartment had been absolutely filthy and covered in used needles like tiny little landmines. His once home had turned into a true junkie den. His moms used and his pops pushed it on her. Again he looked at the case, looked to the bottle and screwed the cap on. His good mood had been thoroughly ruined. “loving…Argh,” he growled, “Shower first, think about that later. gently caress.” CYOA Time Does Kenji take the Long Haul? -- So Long Haul in the book is an injection based drug. That means needles because this isn't Star Trek. There are no hypo-sprays. Kenji is able to use a tattoo gun because the needles are different. A good friend of mine is actually able to compartemantalize the difference. Lots of tats, hates needles. I once asked him about the difference and he just told me to shut up.  Kenji has serious problems with needles though because his moms was a hardcore bliss addict. It's not spelled out in the lore, but a lot of the effects basically look like heroin so that's what I'm basing it on. Kenji lived with a heroin addict for all of his life. She fed him when there was money, gave him shelter, was usually nice to him, but part of living with an addict is dealing with their addiction. So yes, bliss can be smoked (inhaled in the text) , but again, like a heroin addict, I imagine that someone who wants to get high fast would use a needle, because smoking heroin doesn't get an addict high enough fast enough. In short, Kenji does not like needles. He didn't know that Long Haul was injection based. Technically Long Haul is over the counter. Yes, over the counter injectables that keep you up for four days. Welcome to cyberpunk. So while in a normal Shadowrun game taking drugs is something akin to, "I take the drug I get the effects", we actually have to deal with this. Kenji has to inject himself and he's not too happy with that. He wants the effects, which is to stay up for several days so he can get a lot of stuff done, but the needle is a problem for him due to all of the bad feelings associated with moms' bliss/heroin use. -- Fuzzy absolutely reeks and since Kenji wasn't waking up from his nap, Joyce asked her if she'd wake him up. Kenji wakes up and gets a whiff of Fuzzy, who smells awful. She explains that this is because taking a shower would mean she would have less time to train which is technically true. Social combat time. Every minute is important if she’s going to train Jayvon. She can bathe when she gets home. Kenji sees this from her point of view and while he isn’t thrilled at the idea, he does understand. He suggests that she takes a shower tomorrow before getting on the boat. If she smells bad then people are going to judge her and that’s going to cause problems. I roll their dice and surprisingly, Fuzzy wins out with 5 hits to 3 even with all of Kenji’s dice. She’s unmoved. However, something is bothering her. I roll her charisma 4 – defaulting on con 1 + her street cred of 2 versus Kenji’s intuition of 5 + perception of 4. They both roll 2. The tie goes to Kenji since Fuzzy’s social “attack” was to pretend something wasn't bothering her. I roll her loyalty x 2 of 10 dice. She gets 6 hits. She asks if “seeing naked people is cheating”. It turns out that she smells bad because the gym had people changing inside, she freaked out and decided not to take a shower even though there were individual shower stalls. Kenji explains that naked people in gym showers is normal and for her not to worry. She didn't even see anyone naked, just in their underwear. No biggie. Then he asks what she's up to. The answer is not much. Maybe watch a movie and pick up Puppy. He says that he wants to go by Sasha’s place and talk to her. I’m going to roll loyalty times two to see if Kenji opens up to Fuzzy. On 10 dice he gets 4 hits. He admits that he’s had a really rough day. There have been a lot of highs, lows and nearly everything is confusing. Sasha is good at the touchy feely stuff so he figured he’d talk to her. Fuzzy asks if he wants her to be there and the answer is yes. Kenji trusts Fuzzy. Kenji realizes that long haul is injection based. He's not actually really familiar with drugs beyond booze and BTL's. Clever didn't string out his crew on hard drugs, just booze, sex and probably weed. All in all pretty tame for a gang, but the money is good due to being a distributor. So Kenji didn't know how someone takes Long Haul, just that it keeps people up for days. He is not happy due to his moms' bliss/heroin use and all of the needles around the apartment because needles were a constant. I roll composure. He gets 4 hits. So he doesn't just trash it outright. Instead he takes two shots, takes a shower and his mood from palling around with Fuzzy is ruined. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 11:31 on Nov 4, 2018 |
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Sep 24, 2018 22:51
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It's not the right time of the week yet to take it, is it? Taking it on a Monday after classes would give him until Friday after classes before he finally crashes. That's four days of effect for five days of school. Unless he wants to crash out on Sunday nights to maximize his weekends, but even then that still means taking it on Wednesday night, yeah? Anyway, yes, he goes through with it, but carefully. He's familiar enough with blown veins and scarred track marks to know to be loving careful. He's only going to be taking one dose per week at very most, but weird bruises or lingering scars aren't something he'd probably want distracting him. Tangentially, is it IV or IM? Shadowrun doesn't really make the distinction, but for a delayed/lingering drug like that I figure intramuscular might make more sense than intravenous. No blown veins for IM, but it might have more lingering soreness.
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Sep 24, 2018 23:42
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Well that was adorable. And then bad feels. Kenji uses the Long Haul if nothing else because as someone who is still kind of obsessed with the value of goods and services (for a lot of good reasons) he wouldn't like the idea of letting the money and effort invested into it go to waste. And his reasons for wanting it in the first place are still quite valid. He's going to feel bad about it but our boy is going to harness the power of good old fashioned "gently caress your feelings, man up and Do The Thing" stupid masculinity. p.s. the previous update was a thing of beauty and worth the wait
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Sep 24, 2018 23:47
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Small quibble, but Kenji has referred to himself as a possible third wheel in this kind of context before (post Party of the Sociopaths, for one thing), so maybe Fuzzy having worked that one out already would be appropriate? As for long haul? Ah. Hm. Well. He's going to go through with it, but he's really not going to like injecting it, and there's no loving way he's going to let himself get addicted to them. And it's going to make him want to visit moms. Also uhhh, isn't long haul eventually going to make him pass out? Like "haha fuckers, Edwards back!" pass out? Dr Subterfuge fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Sep 24, 2018 |
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Sep 24, 2018 23:55
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Dr Subterfuge posted:Also uhhh, isn't long haul eventually going to make him pass out? Like "haha fuckers, Edwards back!" pass out? If this is likely I'm okay noping the gently caress out of Long Haul. Kenji suddenly has an urge to review the side effects of Long Haul.
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Sep 25, 2018 00:03
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jagadaishio posted:It's not the right time of the week yet to take it, is it? Taking it on a Monday after classes would give him until Friday after classes before he finally crashes. That's four days of effect for five days of school. Yeah, not right now, but on Monday. Sorry about that. More being willing to take it. quote:Tangentially, is it IV or IM? Shadowrun doesn't really make the distinction, but for a delayed/lingering drug like that I figure intramuscular might make more sense than intravenous. No blown veins for IM, but it might have more lingering soreness. Yeah, sorry, didn't specify. This would be IM. He could just take a shot in the arm. RabidWeasel posted:Well that was adorable. And then bad feels. Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.  Dr Subterfuge posted:Also uhhh, isn't long haul eventually going to make him pass out? Like "haha fuckers, Edwards back!" pass out? This is a possibility that I was wondering if anyone would realize. Kenji's preferred method of passing the buck to Edward was by blacking out and giving Edward a massive hangover. Long Haul does indeed have a crash period where the user needs to sleep for 4d6 hours. Normally it would be 8d6, but this is the nice stuff. This answer is maybe. Kenji doesn't know.
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Sep 25, 2018 00:09
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Sleeping for on average only 14 hours after being awake for 4 days straight seems extremely generous, that's some powerful stuff! I'm actually really looking forward to seeing more of Olisha since she's mostly just been a huge bitch jerk with the single redeeming factor of hating fascists and I want to see her fleshed out, but it does feel like Kenji's going to have a very hard time juggling her with all of his new fash-tangential friendly elf pals.
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Sep 25, 2018 00:17
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RabidWeasel posted:Sleeping for on average only 14 hours after being awake for 4 days straight seems extremely generous, that's some powerful stuff! It gets to be an expensive habit in the days where you're paid just enough eat, sleep and buy their crappy products that your corp pays for. In the age of wage slavery where you're working 16 hours days I imagine that it's quite popular. Though this is the pharmaceutical grade stuff. The normal stuff is 8d6 hours. RabidWeasel posted:I'm actually really looking forward to seeing more of Olisha since she's mostly just been a huge bitch jerk with the single redeeming factor of hating fascists and I want to see her fleshed out, but it does feel like Kenji's going to have a very hard time juggling her with all of his new fash-tangential friendly elf pals. We actually had a choice to flesh out either Joyce and Krupa or Olisha first. We're still going to flesh out Olisha, but it happens later. Joyce and Krupa got fleshed out first due to Kenji repeatedly working with them. News is going to spread about Saanvi "courting" Kenji after all once it's made "official". Olisha is probably also not going to be happy about this. Dogs and Cats. I imagine that a Dog shaman and a Cat shaman could get along, but any relationship would be pretty chaotic. Now Kenji has been actively messing around with people she hates. That is going to be a problem soon. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 00:32 on Sep 25, 2018 |
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Sep 25, 2018 00:25
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Did we actually decide that Kenji is officially dating her, though? Or is this a Joyce being amazingly (especially for a diplomat-in-training) presumptuous thing?
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Sep 25, 2018 01:28
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As I understand it the crash period for Long Haul is actual sleep, because of a sleep deficit, not passing out due to getting intoxicated into unconsciousness. Also, unlike Street Grade Long Haul, pharma-grade has no addiction risk - aside from the shortened crash period. Maybe street grade has an amphetamine in it like fentanyl in heroin.
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Sep 25, 2018 02:31
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Dr Subterfuge posted:Did we actually decide that Kenji is officially dating her, though? Or is this a Joyce being amazingly (especially for a diplomat-in-training) presumptuous thing? Kenji decided that he's going to introduce her to his pack, run them by them all and make sure everything is cool before anything happens. Joyce probably isn't going to spike his wheel by announcing early, but he's going to make a big deal of it at some point if they make things official. Everyone is going to know. Dating or "courting" Saanvi is going to come with baggage. At the present moment, Kenji isn't courting or dating her. Unofficially, he's involving her in a clandestine raid on a racist street gang and then secretly making her omelettes on the weekend. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 11:24 on Sep 25, 2018 |
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Sep 25, 2018 02:41
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Whenever Kenji goes to sleep normally, isn't it automatically Edward that wakes up? And Eddie has just pressed the snooze button every time because he's incapable of dealing with anything? If so, the only difference with sleeping off Long Haul compared to regular sleep would be longer snoozes for Eddie. In any case, speaking long term, Kenji really needs to find a way to secure his existence. As for the cyoa choice, yes, he will use the Long Haul. After all, it's not really his mother that was using. Kenji doesn't have a mother. I think that's enough distance for Kenji to deal with.
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Sep 25, 2018 03:03
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There's no such thing as a perfect relationsh-Ice Phisherman posted:Unofficially, he's involving her in a clandestine raid on a racist street gang and then secretly making her omelettes on the weekend.
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Sep 25, 2018 03:11
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May be worth talking to Olisha about more effective ways to bash the fash, like making the fash bash themselves. Forcing Joyce and Krupa to see the reality of their home and their families would be much more satisfying to Cat's cruelty than just ineffectually swiping at them in class. Threading this needle is kind of important for Kenji. I also wonder how Krupa's faith in her patron spirit would be affected if she realized that the only thing that changed at home was that her parents got better at hiding their abuse of Saanvi from her. And I wonder what it was that Julian sacrificed to draw the attention of Fire-Bringer.
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Sep 25, 2018 05:57
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I imagine whatever it was is directly related to why he's not a showrunner anymore.
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Sep 25, 2018 06:02
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As a fellow tattoo lover/needle hater, your friend is right Ice. Shut up
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Sep 25, 2018 06:05
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Is there an option to buy a bunch of energy drinks, sleep like 3 hours a night, and get half as much extra done instead? Why are we doing this again? Don't use the long haul
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Sep 25, 2018 18:36
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Butt Discussin posted:Why are we doing this again? Because sometimes being dedicated and sincere makes you do really dumb poo poo
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Sep 25, 2018 19:08
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Butt Discussin posted:Is there an option to buy a bunch of energy drinks, sleep like 3 hours a night, and get half as much extra done instead? Why are we doing this again? What you're describing will gently caress him up way worse. Pharma-grade Long Haul is non-addictive, and its 'crash' is just going to sleep - a sleep you can wake up from to groggily keep doing poo poo if you really need to, not an unconscious blackout. None of the months-long haze of groggy mind-fog that comes from a massive caffeine-fueled sleep deficit. As for why we're doing this, earlier we had to choose between a few mentor-related options because he had only a very limited amount of time available to them, and this was the solution to get both Julian and Min Yun's tutelage without sacrificing something like his Fixer career or his managing of Oli's at career (or both). The decision was back in... June, I want to say, if you want to go back and check the context.
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Sep 25, 2018 20:02
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Use Long Haul square up and inject laddy, welcome to the shadows
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Sep 25, 2018 20:06
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Use it
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Sep 25, 2018 20:09
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jagadaishio posted:What you're describing will gently caress him up way worse. Pharma-grade Long Haul is non-addictive, and its 'crash' is just going to sleep - a sleep you can wake up from to groggily keep doing poo poo if you really need to, not an unconscious blackout. None of the months-long haze of groggy mind-fog that comes from a massive caffeine-fueled sleep deficit. *phew* I am now pro-Long Haul.
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Sep 25, 2018 20:10
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take twenty 5-hour energies for 100 consecutive hours of energy
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Sep 25, 2018 20:43
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Question: is using Long Haul the sort of thing considered acceptable enough that the school physician would help administer it, assuming this isn't a regular habit?
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Sep 25, 2018 20:48
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I feel like the answer is probably "Yes, but Julian will be informed".
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Sep 25, 2018 20:50
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Wait, how can Puppy be a third wheel? ...Who's possessing our dog? use. Curse our thoughlessness and make a mental note to avoid this mistake in the future. Regarding the Edward argument - would waking from that sleep be so different from sleeping all day, that he won't let Kenji drive? (I think that the thing that will make him stay after waking up, is having someone next to him in the bed) Even so, he will be back sooner or later, anyhow. Might as well deal with it now. (Still phoneposting)
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Sep 25, 2018 21:19
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Pass on Long-Haul I don't want Edward to pop back in, look around, find the stash while trying to find money, and freak the everliving gently caress out. This screams liability.
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Sep 25, 2018 21:25
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The Sandman posted:Question: is using Long Haul the sort of thing considered acceptable enough that the school physician would help administer it, assuming this isn't a regular habit? It's so legal that it doesn't even need a permit, so that's a big 'maybe.' As his legal guardian, I'd imagine Julian would probably be informed. I wouldn't be surprised if fully half of these corp kids are on Long Haul. If they weren't wizard kids, they'd probably have Sleep Regulator implants instead. Drugs and implants to reduce sleep requirements are like candy to wageslaves.
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Sep 25, 2018 21:46
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Ice Phisherman posted:A New Post! Ice!!!  Welcome back, Forum Friend! As you can see, we’ve all missed you! And Boy Howdy, when you post, you POAST!!! It’s actually taken me two days to read, digest, and write up a response! Glad to see you’re back in the saddle, do let us know if mood issues persist. As always, a saucy puppet show is yours for the asking!  Ice Phisherman posted:“I’m getting soft,” he muttered, “Too much soft living.” It happens, my boy. Work hard enough to improve your life, only to have that hunger and edge dulled by success. Ice Phisherman posted:Beyond the railing was the skyline of a city, but it wasn’t one he was familiar with. The architecture looked beautiful and alien. Enormous, rounded glass structures looked more like they’d been grown than built. Welcome, Friends, to Myth Drannor!! Ice Phisherman posted:“Hey Kenji!” exclaimed Krupa, unaware of his feelings, “Thanks for coming.” Krupa is starting to edge towards being annoying with this ‘boundless’ enthusiasm. Ice Phisherman posted:“Aww,” cooed Krupa, “You’re so polite, Kenji.” . . . Ice Phisherman posted:“Right, you said you’ve never had Indian food,” said Krupa, “Did you bring those little moon cakes?” I read this first time yesterday, and it was beautifully apt as last night was ‘Mid-Autumn’ on the lunar calendar. I even poached a small bite of the ‘white lotus paste’ moon cake from an officemate. It was nice. Ice Phisherman posted:“Everything okay?” he texted. The hell Kenny, do you enjoy living this dangerously?? Knowing everything you know about the current situation, and all the implicit and explicit entanglements? Ice Phisherman posted:“Marco sent it over,” said Julie, guiltily, “He’s taking over weekend shifts at the doctor’s office since I’m…Uh…Here.” So, Ice, you planning on pitching this as new show to E! / Horizon? The Real Students of Blake Island?? Ice Phisherman posted:“How was your date with Saanvi?” she asked. Hmmm. I’m actually picking up something beyond an ‘annoying sister’ vibe here. In fact, I’d say this was rather insidious manipulative meddling, hiding behind a ‘wide eyes, I only want what’s best for you act’. At best its forcing her agenda onto others and using her ‘innocence’ as a fig leaf. I don’t like it. Ice Phisherman posted:Paladin Gilbrand and the rest of the security detail moved in closer, but Joyce waived them away without looking at them. They stood down, but remained wary. I like this; its a reminder that this entire scene is happening because Joyce allows it. Like the Trideo System, this entire encounter is a façade to give everyone the illusion that everyone has a ‘choice’ in the matter. Ice Phisherman posted:“We’re extremists,” said Krupa. Interesting interpretation. If I were a less scrupulous person, I’d say this opens up ‘chosen and yet not-chosen’ shamans to all sorts of manipulations and coercion because of the desire, and the encouragement by their mentor spirits, to be outliers. Ice Phisherman posted:“Well, there’s much to love about them,” said Joyce, “Imagine a trickster for good. A person made entirely of good intentions. They teach, shape and create, but they’re extremists too. If we’re right then you should never ask him for anything big. Not for your sake, but his. They are extremists of self-sacrifice.” Oh. Oh, this isn’t foreshadowing at all. Julian’s totally not going to die, or be at risk of dying, at the climax of this book. I see you, Mr. Phisherman.  Ice Phisherman posted:They hugged again, but this time, Julie kissed him on the cheek. It took him by surprise and it was the second stolen kiss of the day. Ice Phisherman posted:Saanvi Patel checked to make sure no one was watching and made covert and awkward finger guns at him with silvery metal gauntlets. Kenji couldn’t help it. He laughed. Ice Phisherman posted:P.S. I know you’re thinking you’ve seen me at my slobbiest. That wasn’t even my final form.  Kenny, you Elven. Man. Hussy.Ice Phisherman posted:CYOA Time Missed this vote, although for what it’s worth, I would have went the same way, that being speaking with Sasha, and downing a few shots. Ice Phisherman posted:Just checking back with this. Thanks for the update, appreciate you letting us know. I’m glad you’re getting what you need, the prelim sketches seems to be turning out well. I was asking as I wanted to see about scraping together another donation to you; I’ll have to see how things shape up for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ice Phisherman posted:Also, I thought you might appreciate a small touch I slipped in. I did! Although, being honest, I didn’t quite catch it until you mentioned it here just now. Probably because it seemed perfectly normal to me that’s how Kenny ‘should’ have acted. (And, you’re the best for putting in something like that for little old CV!). You pretty much nailed it by the way; it’s generally considered impolite or ‘not done’ to ask the host what dish you’re being served, because it is quite insulting to let it be known that you don’t like the food you’re having at someone’s expense. At the same, it’s also quite ‘rude’, or ‘not done’, to serve food that your guests might now like. Which goes back to the same conversation we’ve had before in the same vein, that being, there’s a lot about the culture you’re just expected to know, that you’re not supposed to ask or talk about, and, assume that the other party is playing to the same rules. It’s insane and beautiful at the same time, is what I’m getting at. Then there’s the flip side of the situation, where you’re being rude or impolite on purpose, by serving food that you know the other party won’t like, or, declaring that the food you’re being served is awful. The best is, serve someone food they won’t enjoy (like the head of their pet dog or something), then, accuse them of being rude by violating the rules of hospitality. When you think about it, it is weird, the Westerner habit of asking what something is before they try it, or deciding they don’t like it ‘just because’, no? Just try a bite, what’s it going to hurt you? Ice Phisherman posted:“It’s fine,” he said, “I used to use the showers all of the time for a job I had for a while. Just don’t hang around and stare like it’s a show and you should be okay.” With how Fuzzy looks, I’m shocked she hasn’t noticed how people are staring at her at the gym, guys and gals alike. Ice Phisherman posted:“loving…Argh,” he growled, “Shower first, think about that later. gently caress.” Wow. We really going to talk about this huh? And more to the point, the thread is okay with shooting up our boy Kenny with uppers? Because that’s what this is; rationalize it all you want, non-addictive, non-opiate based, totally not combat-meth. We’re going to decide to stick a needle in our boy Kenny, and inject something that will allow him to stay awake for 4 days. Let’s take away the needle aspect and the addiction discussion (which I don’t agree with either), I’m firmly against this because riding this train means Kenny will have a) hardcore drug paraphernalia at school (a bottle of booze is one thing, you try explaining away having needles in your room – this is expulsion level infringement here) and b) an unknown reaction to what happens when he crashes (do we really want Eddy to come back right now? Or, what if an emergency happens when Kenny’s crashed-out and he can’t be woken up?). Also, you can’t convince me that being up for 4 days straight won’t have any long term health effects on you. I didn’t agree with the tattoo thing because of personal preference. Letting our high-school adolescent shoot-up on school property is objectively a bad decision; there is no upside which could outweigh the possible ramifications here. jagadaishio posted:I wouldn't be surprised if fully half of these corp kids are on Long Haul. If they weren't wizard kids, they'd probably have Sleep Regulator implants instead. Drugs and implants to reduce sleep requirements are like candy to wageslaves. Even if it is ‘normal’ for the setting, I’m not going along with this.
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Sep 25, 2018 22:21
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CourValant posted:
We're not making this a habit, it's a one-time thing due to having too much poo poo going on right now. Wrt Edward, as jagadaishio describes medical grade long haul, the only side effect is sleeping for, on average, 14 hours. I don't see how that would make any difference to the Eddie situation compared to the normal sleeping we do every night. Especially not considering how Eddie didn't take the wheel back during the summer depression naps, which as someone living with a partner that suffer from the same, can easily be like 20 hours. To me long haul sounds like super caffeine with far milder side effects. And had you told me to not pull caffeine fueled all-nighters every other night back when I was at uni, I would've told you to gently caress off.
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Sep 25, 2018 22:54
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Groetgaffel posted:To me long haul sounds like super caffeine with far milder side effects. And had you told me to not pull caffeine fueled all-nighters every other night back when I was at uni, I would've told you to gently caress off. We can agree to disagree. I would have absolutely told you not to pull all-nighters, ever, back in college because I firmly believe that part of the educational training was to be efficient with your time and to learn how to manage it effectively. I will also say that I had a very demanding work-load for all 4 years of undergrad and post-grad (including working full-time during my post-grad).
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Sep 25, 2018 23:03
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Unless Ice is going to houserule some side-effects in(which he absolutely could, I suppose, but it would be something worth warning the thread about because it'd be a cheap as hell gotcha) why is the setting objectively and unequivocally stating that Long Haul has no negative side effects or long term problems suspect to you? Seems weird that you need to be convinced that there's no issues with this drug in a setting that features wizards, robot arms, and ghouls. Is a designer stimulant having no major side effects really a bridge too far in that world?
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Sep 25, 2018 23:12
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Ice Phisherman posted:Also, that was an extremely difficult portion for me to write. There were just so many moving parts all at the same time along with a number of reveals I've been sitting on. It was hard to keep track. Let me know if that was readable. I don't want to overload people with information. Belated, but the reveals have been coming along very well and the conflux of them all ending up in Julie's confession felt natural. I mean, yes, it's kind of convenient for things to happen all at once in a handful of hours, but that's just how fiction rolls. As for the latest vote... A part of me thinks Ken would be practical enough to use the Long Haul even if he feels terrible about it. The money has already been spent and he has been planning around this boost of energy. With that said I think it is more interesting if he feels such revulsion and aversion to the idea that he'll use the bare minimum and sell off (or just throw away) whatever else remains.
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Sep 25, 2018 23:25
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Zodiac5000 posted:Is a designer stimulant having no major side effects really a bridge too far in that world? In a word, Yes. I'm drawing a distinction between personal, direct drug use side effects (addiction, habit-forming, crashes, etc.) with the social ramifications (having drug paraphernalia at school, being known as the shoot-up kid, impacts to health from lack of sleep, how this may have unknown interactions with the LeBlanc Method). Just because a 'drug' doesn't have stated negative side effects doesn't mean it won't have a negative impact on your life beyond the physiological affects it has on your 'receptors'. This isn't something which I agree with. Its not the first time I've dissented with the thread, and it won't be the last time. Ya'll will proceed without my vote (not that you've ever needed it anyways), and the story will continue.
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Sep 25, 2018 23:30
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CourValant posted:Welcome, Friends, to Myth Drannor!! Yep, that's the point. Tir likes to claim a sort of "glorious past" even though it's only forty years old. They try to make themselves distinct by standing out and in some ways they do, but a lot of it is just for show. quote:Krupa is starting to edge towards being annoying with this ‘boundless’ enthusiasm. She is the eternal Pollyanna. quote:The hell Kenny, do you enjoy living this dangerously?? Knowing everything you know about the current situation, and all the implicit and explicit entanglements? I'm sort of playing this as Kenji having an idea about what he's getting into, but not the true scope of what he's being asked about. At some point he's going to run headlong into obligations. If you've watched Disney enough you think that being a princess means a life of wonder and amazement. Not being married off to bring talent into the family or to seal a treaty. Being noble isn't all its cracked up to be. In fact, Saanvi is getting an enormous dose of the negative sides of being a noble with absolutely none of the benefits. quote:Interesting interpretation. Yeah, the "chosen one" aspect is overplayed and gross in stories. I don't like it. It's lazy writing. It takes all of the drama out of the story when yet another teenager defeats yet another empire. No one in this story is a chosen one. Not even Julie, though she does give off those vibes sometimes. I want to give reasonable explanations for why stuff happens that's narratively consistent throughout the entire story. Even the more fantastic stuff like her look into the future has an explanation in the narrative. I look back into history, religion and sociological factors to find rational answers for why stuff happens. Not everything obviously, but stuff that I feel needs to be justified. quote:Oh. Oh, this isn’t foreshadowing at all. Julian’s totally not going to die, or be at risk of dying, at the climax of this book. Everyone has a chance of getting injured or killed the more we involve them in the world's problems. Pretty much everyone in the book has the ability to walk away though and saving their own skins at any time. Keeping your head down is a pretty solid survival tactic. You just have to live in that world where you head is constantly down though. quote:I did! Although, being honest, I didn’t quite catch it until you mentioned it here just now. Probably because it seemed perfectly normal to me that’s how Kenny ‘should’ have acted. (And, you’re the best for putting in something like that for little old CV!). I'm not sure about best, but I think I get what you mean. This shocked me at first, but then I remember a story from my friend Josh who is second generation Chinese. Back in the late 1990's, his now wife, who is also second generation Chinese had an old dog and this was back in high school when she lived with her parents. It was Christmas and everything was closed down because they lived in a rural county and they were low on food. So her parents killed and cooked the family dog on Christmas. She didn't eat it of course and that really messed her up emotionally, but that story was perhaps one of the biggest culture shocks I have ever heard of. In the West, eating a pet is beyond the pale of what is acceptable. In fact, it's commonly accepted that a pet is not just an animal, but part of the family. It's a pretty massive gulf to talk about that in terms of culture. Personally I have to imagine that cooking a pet and serving it to the owner is the mark of a psychopath if the intent is to get them to violate the rules of hospitality. In the West I imagine how that goes down either devolving into a hysterical crying fit or a fist fight. Maybe more than a fist fight come to think of it. I live in an area with a lot of guns. quote:With how Fuzzy looks, I’m shocked she hasn’t noticed how people are staring at her at the gym, guys and gals alike. The way I envision Fuzzy in my head is that she's androgynous in a confusing way, muscular in a compact sort of way and small. She doesn't have super short hair anymore since Sasha asked her to grow it out, but otherwise she wouldn't look out of place in flannel and jeans. I actually really can't see your average guy as being into her that much, especially since she doesn't go out of her way at all to look traditionally feminine and her style of dress isn't consistently butch lesbian either. Makeup is a special occasions only thing for Fuzzy. The closest analogue I can think of is a confusingly cute androgynous butch lesbian. In fact I don't really think that she has a "style of dress" beyond what's functional. She likes leather, but that's because she gets a lot of her clothing from home. I'm imagining that her style of dress will continue to change depending on what she kills. So when she kills devil rat, she wears devil rat. She kills pig, she wears pig leather. She kills deer, she wears deer leather. And so on. On top of that, she's used to wearing clothing that hides her femininity and is armored. So any curves to speak of are hidden. A lot of what she does could be viewed as a sort of political statement, but she was just someone who was raised without the concept of gender roles. Diego believed in functionality and ability over roles. If you could work, you worked and there was no male or female component to it. Only the ability to accomplish the work. I might at some point have more people misinterpret Fuzzy's way of dress and acting as a political statement which I think would be interesting. What I think would grab most of the attention while Fuzzy is training would be her athletic ability when she's using her powers. Her reflexes are at Olympic level at the moment and she could slip into superhuman with some karma, though I don't think that's going to happen. In Shadowrun, most people don't have physical magic or physically enhancing cyberware or bioware. You're talking about less than 1% of the population since machines can do most of what people can do now. So unless you're military, in security (and only the upper levels) or you're in the future equivalent of SWAT (since police usually don't get physical cyberware since they use combat drugs and lots of backup to go toe to toe with the big bads if they absolutely have to) it turns out that most people are just normal people. They might get a sleep regulator or skill wires, but your average citizen would see Fuzzy moving at superhuman speeds and it would be noteworthy. Most people would assume that she's either in or looking to get into the military, security or police since she appears to be too small to be a street tough. quote:Wow. We really going to talk about this huh? And more to the point, the thread is okay with shooting up our boy Kenny with uppers? Yeah, this is something I'm having trouble dealing with as well. I'm willing to roll with it, but mostly so I can talk about it later. I haven't been able to talk about drugs in the story yet and I think that this will give me the ability to do so. Outside of insulin injections, I think that the closest analogue to injection of drugs in the society I live in would be something akin to steroids since meth needs a vein. Intramuscular injection of meth (called skin popping and yes it's as gross as it sounds) is super bad for you above and beyond just taking meth. People who do inject into the muscles as heroin users are long term addicts who've blown most if not all of their veins. I live in a county whose chosen drug of choice is heroin and using needles sort of squicks me out in retrospect.  Zodiac5000 posted:Unless Ice is going to houserule some side-effects in(which he absolutely could, I suppose, but it would be something worth warning the thread about because it'd be a cheap as hell gotcha) why is the setting objectively and unequivocally stating that Long Haul has no negative side effects or long term problems suspect to you? Seems weird that you need to be convinced that there's no issues with this drug in a setting that features wizards, robot arms, and ghouls. Is a designer stimulant having no major side effects really a bridge too far in that world? Long Haul is actually mildly addictive. Even the good stuff doesn't get rid of that. I think that this is Shadowrun the game butting heads with Blake Island the story and it reminds me of just how different an animal the latter is. GimmickMan posted:Belated, but the reveals have been coming along very well and the conflux of them all ending up in Julie's confession felt natural. I mean, yes, it's kind of convenient for things to happen all at once in a handful of hours, but that's just how fiction rolls. Thank you. I'm doing my best to make everything believable. Gun Jam posted:Wait, how can Puppy be a third wheel? ...Who's possessing our dog? Big dog, small cabin. Mother Bear isn't watching Puppy like last year either. As we're going to see pretty soon, space is going to be at a premium for Sasha. Animals and children do not respect date night. It's why babysitters exist. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Sep 26, 2018 |
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Sep 25, 2018 23:55
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For the record I think that Kenji shooting up at school so he can get a bunch of poo poo done is a hilariously bad idea but I'm still voting for it because I think it's a believable kind of fuckup for someone like Kenji whose entire life has been about trying to squeeze efficiency out of his every moment of consciousness; sure, he's not under the same pressure that he used to be, but it's part of his mentality. He suddenly ended up in a position where his time was even more valuable to him than usual and he (or rather, the thread) made the decision to just make more time through pharmacology and this is the result! He's not going to back off at this point.
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Sep 26, 2018 00:08
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Ice Phisherman posted:If you've watched Disney enough you think that being a princess means a life of wonder and amazement. Not being married off to bring talent into the family or to seal a treaty. Being noble isn't all its cracked up to be. In fact, Saanvi is getting an enormous dose of the negative sides of being a noble with absolutely none of the benefits. I’ve drawn the comparison between Jane Austin and Disney specific fairytales a few times and have been told that I’m ‘depressing’. Life actually begins at ‘Happily Ever After’. Ice Phisherman posted:Not everything obviously, but stuff that I feel needs to be justified. And the story is much better for it. I once tried to explain why the rebels having ‘gunships’ and a whole military industrial complex / underground lair (in the movie version of Hunger Games – I haven’t read the books and I don’t intend to read the books) makes no sense, and was told that I was ‘depressing’. Yes, in hindsight trying to make sense of those YA stories was in fact a waste of time. Ice Phisherman posted:This shocked me at first, but then I remember a story from my friend Josh who is second generation Chinese.  The hell man. Now it’s my turn to be totally shocked; unless this was in rural China (and it doesn’t sound like it), I can’t believe this happened anywhere moderately western in the late 90s. My ‘dog-head’ point was made more along the lines of acceptable, culturally appropriate story-telling, as opposed to citing a news story. While eating dog is still a ‘thing’ in China, its less accepted these days; there is actual local protesting of this practice at the annual ‘Dog Eating Festival’; yes, both of these are actual things that happen. Ice Phisherman posted:Personally I have to imagine that cooking a pet and serving it to the owner is the mark of a psychopath if the intent is to get them to violate the rules of hospitality. In the West I imagine how that goes down either devolving into a hysterical crying fit or a fist fight. Maybe more than a fist fight come to think of it. I live in an area with a lot of guns. Yes, this was what I was trying to get at. There’s no coming back from this, no matter the culture. I’m imagining a weirdly passive aggressive form of Titus Andronicus. Ice Phisherman posted:What I think would grab most of the attention while Fuzzy is training would be her athletic ability when she's using her powers. Kinda sorta what I had in mind. If I were to see a chiseled petite blondie working over the speed bag at the Olympic level down by the gym, I’d probably stare pretty openly, looks notwithstanding. Ice Phisherman posted:I'm willing to roll with it, but mostly so I can talk about it later. I haven't been able to talk about drugs in the story yet and I think that this will give me the ability to do so. If you’re going to be using this as a storytelling device, then by all means (again, not that you need my permission). You asked for a vote, and I cast my ballot; it’s good to know that Long Haul is in fact mildly addictive (I can’t imagine how it isn’t). Ice Phisherman posted:I live in a county whose chosen drug of choice is heroin and using needles sort of squicks me out in retrospect. I’m looking forward to next Sunday’s ‘This is Life’ on CNN; it’ll be on the opioid issue. Ice Phisherman posted:I think that this is Shadowrun the game butting heads with Blake Island the story and it reminds me of just how different an animal the latter is. Yeah. Yeah it is different, isn’t it? RabidWeasel posted:He's not going to back off at this point. Why not? We're specifically having a vote on this choice because Kenny find needles objectionable, and, the story isn't on rails.
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Sep 26, 2018 00:29
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I'm voting no to Long Haul not because I don't want Kenji to take it, because from a time minmaxing standpoint, and narrative consequences angle, I do and it was thread decision that brought him to this point to begin with, but because I like representing the doubt in his mind that this situation might be kind of hosed up. And most of these kids don't have that context because it's normal to them and it's been made normal to them by the megacorps pushing it on them, it takes someone who strongly associates injections with junkies to realize this is not right.
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Sep 26, 2018 00:34
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